Square’s Apple Pay reader has come full circle to now be sold in Apple Stores.
In November, the payments company — which made its name with a mobile credit card reader that could be attached to smartphones and tablets — released a version that also accepted Apple Pay (as well as chip cards). Now, that very reader is being sold at Apple’s namesake retail stores, both at physical locations and online.
As Wired points out, the arrangement between Square and Apple serves as something of a mutually beneficial promotion for both of the company’s products. While Square’s original credit card reader is already sold through Apple (as well as on Square’s own site), Square will now be getting its new product in front of more consumer eyes (and wallets) via Apple, while Apple will expand consumer awareness of Apple Pay as a result of selling the reader (Square’s Apple Pay and chip card reader will be available through both its own site and through Apple for the same price of $49).
“Retail has been a very good channel for us,” Jesse Dorogusker, Square’s head of hardware, who oversaw the creation of the newest reader, told Wired. “It lets you be in front of more people in a different way.”
Apple, the outlet posits, is likely hoping that the wider consumer audience will include patrons (and proprietors) of small and medium-sized businesses — Square’s bread and butter to date — thereby extending its contactless payment service’s reach beyond the large retail chains (such as Walgreens and Whole Foods) where it is, for the most part, currently accepted.
Another potential benefit for the Square-Apple arrangement that Wired puts forth is based in the fact that, despite the EMV liability shift deadline in the U.S. having passed on Oct. 1, the technology is still far from reaching the 90 percent adoption rate domestically that it has in other countries. The increased exposure via the Square reader could lead to merchants (and consumers) that are still on the fence regarding EMV to give Apple Pay a shot instead.